Al-Sharq Al-Awsat Publishes Extracts from Al-Jihad Leader Al-Zawahiri's New Book December 2 ...

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Al-Sharq Al-Awsat Publishes Extracts from Al-Jihad Leader Al-Zawahiri's New
Book

December 2, 2001

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Correcting processing indicator. Parts one through eleven of serialized excerpts from Egyptian
Al-Jihad Organization leader Ayman al-Zawahiri's book "Knights Under the Prophet's Banner"

Part One

London-Al-Sharq al-Awsat-- Al-Sharq al-Awsat has obtained a copy of a book that is regarded as
the "last will" of Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, Usama Bin Ladin's primary ally and leader of the
Egyptian Al-Jihad Organization. In the book, the second most wanted man by the United States
talks about important stages in his life, his "Afghan Arab" companions, and the reason why
(Islamist) movements are inimical to the United States.

In the introduction to the book Al-Jihad leader says: "I have written this book for an additional
reason, namely, to fulfill the duty entrusted to me towards our generation and future
generations. Perhaps I will not be able to write afterwards in the midst of these worrying
circumstances and changing conditions. I expect that no publisher will publish it and no
distributor will distribute it."

In the book that is entitled "Knights Under the Prophet's Banner" Al-Zawahiri recounts the
events of the Al-Jihad Organization's early years as he experienced them, beginning with his
joining the first Al-Jihad cell in Cairo in 1966, that is, before he completed his 16th year (Al-
Zawahiri was born in 1951) and then recounts subsequent events that shook the world.
The book was smuggled by an Egyptian fundamentalist called "A.S." who is a close aide of Al-
Zawahiri out of an Afghan cave in the Kandahar region to the border city of Peshawar and then
to London. Al-Sharq al-Awsat will publish chapters of this book as of today.

Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, leader of the Egyptian Al-Jihad Organization who, after Usama Bin
Ladin, is the second most wanted man in the world by the United States, is hiding either in a
cavern or hideout in the mountains surrounding Kandahar, the spiritual capital of Taliban ruler
Mullah Omar, or in a hideout somewhere near the Pakistani border. It is not unlikely that the
thunder of the bombs dropped by the US aircraft that are pounding Afghanistan close to his
hideout is disturbing his thoughts as he writes his next book, whose last chapters might be about
to be completed. This second book is about the 11 September 2001 events and the US air strikes
that have caused the death of dozens of al-Qa'ida leaders, notably Abu-Hafs al-Masri, Bin
Ladin's brother-in-law and the clandestine organization's former military commander; Nasr
Fahmi Nasr, Al-Jihad Organization's financial official; and Tariq Anwar, the official in charge of
special operations.

In the new book that, according to fundamentalist sources in London, has not yet come out, Al-
Zawahiri speaks about the Al-Jihad Organization in Egypt, the reasons for his personal
emigration from Egypt, and the waging of a battle under Bin Ladin's command against the
"distant enemy," a battle that has ruined everything in Afghanistan, led to the death of
approximately 15 of Al-Jihad's leading figures, and dealt a blow to the Taliban.
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Fundamentalist sources believe that Al-Zawahiri's next book will not be less sensational than the
book "Meditations Under the Roof of the World" written by the "Arab Afghans'" primary
theoretician and thinker Abu-al-Walid, an Egyptian fundamentalist wanted by the United
States. He is very close to Bin Ladin and Mullah Omar.
Al-Zawahiri, who comes from a wealthy Egyptian family, joined the ranks of the opponents of
the late Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat when he was only 16 (as published; when Al-Sadat
became President, Al-Zawahiri was already 20, since he was born in 1951). He was later
imprisoned on the charge of involvement in Al-Sadat's assassination.
Al-Zawahiri formed a group all of his own, of which he was the leader (amir). It included his
brother Muhammad, nicknamed the Engineer, who was extradited by the United Arab Emirates
to Egypt in 2000.
Prior to October 1981 (month in which Al-Sadat was assassinated) Al-Zawahiri was introduced
to military intelligence officer Abbud al-Zumar, who persuaded him to join Abd-al-Salam Faraj's
group.
Al-Zawahiri was arrested in connection with the assassination of former President Anwar al-
Sadat and spent three years in jail. In 1985 he left Egypt for Peshawar and there he succeeded in
uniting the Afghan Arab groups.
Al-Zawahiri heads a list of 14 persons wanted by Egypt because of their involvement in violent
attacks. The list includes Yasir Sirri, director of the Islamic Surveillance Center in London
(currently detained at Britain's Peal Marsh jail on the charge of involvement in assassinating the
Afghan military commander Ahmad Shah Masoud). Egyptian military courts have passed both a
death sentence and a life imprisonment verdict in absentia against Sirri. Others names on the
list include Adil al-Sayyid Ahmad; and Mustafa Hamzah, alias Abu-Hazim, whom Egypt accuses
of planning an assassination attempt against President Husni Mubarak in Addis Ababa and who
is described by certain sources as the commander of the Islamic Group's military wing. Other
names include Tharwat Shihatah, Rifa'i Taha, Isam al-Ghamri, Husayn Shamit, Muhammad al-
Islambuli (brother of Al-Sadat's assassin), and Adil Abd-al-Majid Abd-al-Bari (currently
detained at Brixton jail southwest of London, pending a decision on a US exAlthough Al-
Zawahiri has appeared on numerous occasions to be al-Qa'ida's deputy leader, it appears that he
is the real leader from behind a veil, and, according to a London fundamentalist "Al-Zawahiri is
behind the deep-rooted hatred of the United States and the West in Bin Ladin's heart."
Despite all these circumstances, Al-Zawahiri has elected to come forward before the public in
the past few weeks with a book that has been smuggled from an Afghan cave to the border city of
Peshawar and then to London. In the book he recounts his personal history and tells of events,
as he personally experienced them, beginning with his joining the first jihad cell in Cairo in
1966, that is before he completed his 16th year (he was born in 1951), and incidents that shook
Egypt and the world, including President Al-Sadat's assassination and ending with the current
events on Afghan territory. He presents his views on some controversial issues that were raised
throughout his personal life journey, such as the disagreements over the manner to deal with Al-
Sadat and the dispute that erupted between the pillars of the Al-Jihad and Islamic Group
organizations inside the Turrah prison after the Egyptian authorities arrested their members in
the wake of the viewing stand incident (reference to
The book is divided into three sections, has the title "Knights Under the Prophet's Banner", and
the substitle "Meditations on the Jihadist Movement". The title describes the contents of the
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book. The knights to whom he alludes are the leaders and members of the fundamentalist
movements. It can be noticed that the title is a response to a name widely used in the Middle
Ages to describe "the Knights of the Holy Tomb", during the Crusades in the Middle East.
Al-Zawahiri's book has 21 chapters in some of which he talks about his old colleagues,
particularly Yahya Hashim, a prosecutor who persuaded Al-Zawahiri in the late 1960s to join his
jihadist cell. He devotes an entire chapter to his former comrade Isam al-Qamari, an officer in
the Egyptian Armed Forces' armored corps, who was killed while trying to escape from Turrah
prison in the wake of Al-Sadat's assassination.
Everyone who has followed the birth and development of radical Islamist movements knows
about the close bonds between Al-Zawahiri and Al-Qamari.
Al-Zawahiri devotes another full chapter to the bombing of the Egyptian Embassy in Islamabad
by Al-Jihad members. He devotes two chapters to those whom he describes as "the enemies of
Islam, Jews and Americans."
Perhaps Al-Zawahiri has produced only a few books because he was occupied in organizational
work and in rebuilding the Al-Jihad Organization after traveling to Afghanistan in the wake of
the crackdown on Al-Jihad following Al-Sadat's assassination. The circumstances through which
he lived in Afghanistan also did not give him time to write much.
However, the 11 September events increased his book sales in London's Islamic bookshops
including his famous work "Bitter Harvest" in which he discusses the Muslim Brotherhood's
relationship with the Egyptian authorities in the eras of King Faruq and Presidents Jamal Abd-
al-Nasir and Anwar al-Sadat. The book contains sharp criticism of the Muslim Brotherhood's
leading figures. Other books include "The Black Book", and "Allaying the Anger in the Believers'
Hearts". This last book examines shari'ah rulings on "martyrdom operations."
Al-Zawahiri never failed to comment on the positions adopted by other fundamentalist
movements, such as the Islamic Group that was behind a strategic turning point when it
adopted a historic decision in March 1999 to halt all military operations inside and outside
Egypt, in response to a peace initiative that the Islamic Group's traditional leaders presented in
July 1997.
Bin Ladin's Physician
In a special chapter called "Afghanistan: Emigration and Preparation", the Al-Jihad
Organization leader talks about the causes that led fundamentalists in general, but particularly
the members of Al-Jihad Organization, to join the war in Afghanistan. He also outlines the
premises from which Al-Jihad members proceeded when, in cooperation with Bin Ladin, they
formed "The Global Front for Fighting Jews and Crusaders" in 1998. Afterwards they directed
their operations against US targets.
In the book's introduction Al-Zawahiri says: "I have written this book to fulfill a duty entrusted
to me towards our generation and future generations. Perhaps I will not be able to write later on
in the midst of these worrying circumstances and changing conditions."
He adds: "I have written this book although I expect no publisher to publish it or a distributor to
distribute it."
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For this reason, some people are looking on this book/memoirs as a "last will."
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) regards Ayman al-Zawahiri as Bin Ladin's right-hand
man and the mastermind of the bombing of the US embassies in Nairobi (Kenya) and Dar el
Salam (Tanzania) in August 1998.
Ayman al-Zawahiri and his brother Muhammad (the Engineer) headed the list of suspects in the
"returnees from Albania" case before a Cairo military court in April 1999. Al-Zawahiri received a
death in sentence in absentia in that case. There were also other Islamists on the list of suspects
in that case who had come from several Arab capitals and from Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, and
Albania.
According to fundamentalist sources in London, Al-Zawahiri apparently filled a vacuum in Bin
Ladin's life to the point that when he was arrested in Cairo in 1996, Bin Ladin paid the bail to
have him released.
Later the two left together for Afghanistan where they apparently planned the bombing of the
two US embassies in Nairobi and Dar el Salam in 1998.
In the book "Knights Under the Prophet's Banner," Al-Zawahiri discusses the religious opinion
(fatwa) pertaining to the killing of Americans, which contravenes the principles of Islamic
shari'ah and also contradicts the strategy and traditions of Al-Jihad Organization itself that
argue that (fighting the near enemy is better than fighting the distant enemy). That strategy is
the main pillar of Al-Jihad's ideology as outlined in the book "The Unfulfilled Duty" by
Muhammad Abd-al-Salam Faraj, an electrical engineer, who was executed in the Al-Sadat
assassination case.
Fundamentalist sources maintain that "Al-Zawahiri's signing of the statement of 'The Global
Front for Fighting Jews and Crusaders' in February 1998 was an ill-omened act for Al-Jihad
Organization because it caused the rapid downfall of the most prominent leaders of the group
who were residing abroad, and members of the group who were living in other Arab countries
were extradited to Egypt.
The fundamentalists say that Al-Zawahiri's signing of that famous statement caused the US
authorities to escalate their efforts against the group's members in Europe. (The US authorities
are now asking for the extradition of two Al-Jihad leaders who are held in Brixton jail, Adil Abd-
al-Majid Abd-al-Bari and former Egyptian artillery officer Ibrahim Idrus. Both of them are
waiting for the House of Lords' ruling on their extradition to the United States along with
another suspect, Khalid al-Fawwaz)
The fundamentalist sources add that the US authorities' pursuit of the organization's leaders
after the bombings of the Nairobi and Dar el Salam embassies in August 1998 led to the collapse
of the organization's secret bases in Western capitals. Several of the organization's most
prominent leaders were arrested in Albania and deported to Egypt in connection with the
"returnees from Albania" case. What made the organization's ordeal worse was the unexpected
appearance of prominent Al-Jihad figure Ahmad Salamah Mabruk, Al-Zawahiri's right-hand
man, at the Huckstep Military Court north of Cairo, against whom an earlier death sentence had
been passed in absentia. During the new trial Mabruk revealed damaging information about the
group's leaders.
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A Look Back to the Past
In a prologue to the first section of the book that carries the title "A Look Back to the Past", Al-
Zawahiri says: It is important to me at first to answer three questions about this book. Who
wrote it? Why did he write it? For Whom did he write it?
About himself as the author, Al-Zawahiri says: "It is a man who professes to have a connection
with the mujahidin and to have forged a bond with them. He hopes to spend whatever is left of
his life in serving the cause of Islam in its ferocious war against the tyrants of the new Crusade.
He wrote it while being a wanted man, a fugitive."
Why did he write this book? Why at this particular time? What benefit will it bring to the
reader? What can it add to the large flood of daily books? The answer is: This book was written
in an attempt to revive the Muslim nation's awareness of its role and duty, its importance, and
the duties that it needs to perform. The book also explains the extent of the new Crusaders'
enmity to the Muslim nation and this nation's need to see the dividing line between its enemies
and loyal subjects.
Al-Zawahiri adds: "We need to admit that successful attempts have been made to infiltrate our
ranks, that these attempts have attracted some of our prominent names, and our enemies have
added them to the crowds that serve their purposes, including the writers of falsehoods, those
who exploit principles for personal gain, and those who sell their fatwas (religious rulings) as
commodities."
In the book's introduction Al-Zawahiri explores the 11 September events and the subsequent air
strikes against Afghanistan by saying: "This book has been written as a warning to the forces of
evil that lie in wait for this nation. We tell them: The nation is drawing closer every day to its
victory over you and is about to inflict its rightful punishment (qasas) on you step by step; your
battle against this nation is destined to lead to inevitable defeat for yourselves, and all your
efforts are no more than an attempt to delay this nation's victory, not to prevent it."
Al-Zawahiri describes this stage as "the stage of the global battle, now that the forces of the
disbelievers have united against the mujahidin."
He adds: "The battle today cannot be fought on a regional level without taking into account the
global hostility towards us."
He declares: "In writing this book, I have sought to explain some of the features of the currently
raging epic battle, and to alert the readers to the hidden and open enemies, their wolves and
their foxes, so that they can be on their guard against the brigands who wish to rob them."
Al-Zawahiri gives the following description of the caders of the fundamentalist organizations,
perhaps with particular emphasis on the Arab Afghans: "They possess a quality that their
enemies cannot hope to acquire. They are the people who most eloquently bear witness to their
God's power, Who has given them a strength drawn from His Own strength, until they have
turned from a scattered few who possess little and know little, into a power that is feared and
that threatens the stability of the new world order."
Al-Zawahiri adds: "I have also written this book to perform my duty to our generation and the
generations that will follow. Perhaps I will not be able to write more amid all these worrying
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circumstances and changing conditions that remind me of Al-Mutanabbi's (famous Arab poet)
words: A stranger without friends in every town he visits; whenever the need becomes greater,
the number of those who can help grows smaller."
To Whom Did Al-Zawahiri Write the Book?
As to the audience to whom he wrote the book, Al-Zawahiri says: "I wrote this book so that it
will be read by two kinds of people. The first is the intellectual group, the mujahidin group. For
this reason I have sought to write it in a clear, simple style and avoided the methods and
inferences of specialists."
He adds that he "could not gather enough documentation necessary for this kind of analytical
writing because of the lack of stability in Afghanistan." He points out that "furthermore, the
author possesses only his testimony which he cannot provide in detail because many of its
characters are still in the midst of battle, and many of its events are still interacting in the field."
Towards the end of the book's introduction, Al-Zawahiri describes himself as "an emigrant
fugitive, who gives his backing to other emigrants and mujahidin; he strengthens their resolve,
and reminds them of God's bountiful mercy."
The Al-Jihad leader says that the name "Arab Afghans" is a tendentious description because
these mujahidin have never been solely Arab, but mujahidin from all parts of the Islamic world,
though the Arabs have been a distinctive element in this group."
He adds: "These young men have revived a religious duty of which the nation had long been
deprived, by fighting in Afghanistan, Kashmir, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Chechnya."
He remarks: "In the training camps and on the battlefronts against the Russians, the Muslim
youths developed a broad awareness and a fuller realization of the conspiracy that is being
weaved. They developed an understanding based on shari'ah of the enemies of Islam, the
renegades, and their collaborators."
He continues: "Of course the world order was not going to accept the existence of this growing
phenomenon of Arab Afghans that is rebellious against it and a threat to its existence, especially
after Western and, later, communist occupation made continuous efforts over an entire century
to subjugate the Muslim nations with regulations, laws, forged elections, states of emergency,
and immigration and naturalization laws."
He points out that the reaction to the Arab Afghans began with their expulsion from Pakistan in
the early 1990s and reached its peak in 1992.
Al-Zawahiri says: "It is an irony of fate that Pakistan's secular government expelled to an
unknown destination the very persons who had defended its borders. On the Afghan side of the
Torkham border crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan stands a cemetery that contains the
remains of more than 100 Arab mujahidin from Afghanistan. It stands as a witness to the
Pakistani Government's attitude to those who defended its borders against the communist
threat."
Al-Zahahiri says: "Now the Arab Afghans have become dispersed throughout the world. Some
are refugees, some immigrants, some living in hiding, some captives, some dead, some carrying
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arms to defend yet another Muslim front, and some have despaired and are trying to return to a
normal life after seeing the enemies' viciousness and the ferocity with which they pursue the
mujahidin."
He adds: "The Arab and Western media are responsible for distorting the image of the Arab
Afghans by portraying them as obssessed half-mad people who have rebelled against the United
States that once trained and financed them. This lie was repeated more frequently after the Arab
Afghans returned to Afghanistan for the second time in the mid-1990s in the wake of the
bombing of the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar el Salam."
According to the leader of the Egyptian Al-Jihad Organization, the purpose of the distortion
campaign against the Arab Afghans is clear and obvious, namely, the wish of the United States
to deprive the Muslim nation of the honor of heroism and to pretend to be saying: Those whom
you consider heroes are actually my creation and my mercenaries who rebelled against me when
I stopped backing them."
Al-Zawahiri says: "This lie is self-contradictory. If the Arab Afghans are a US creation, why did
the United States seek to expel them over a period of two years?"
He adds: "The truth that everyone should learn is that the United States did not give one penny
in aid to the mujahidin."
He quotes the declaration of his primary ally Bin Ladin: "The financial aid to the Afghans from
popular Arab sources amounted to $200 million in 10 years."
Al-Zawahiri explains: "If the Arab Afghans are the mercenaries of the United States who have
now rebelled against it, why is the United States unable to buy them back now? Would not
buying them be more economical and less costly than the security and prevention budget that it
is paying to defend itself now?"
Part Two
Egyptian Al-Jihad Organization leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri, Usama Bin Ladin's ally in al-Qa'ida
organization, has written a book that is regarded as his last will and carries the title "Knights
Under the Prophet's Banner", which is published by Al-Sharq al-Awsat in the "Afghanistan:
Emigration and Preparation" Section. In the book Al-Zawahiri says that "his travel to faraway
countries was predestined."
He had been temporarily filling in for a physician colleague in a clinic in Cairo's Al-Sayyidah
Zaynab neighborhood that was run by the Islamic Medical Society, a society administered by the
Muslim Brotherhood. He adds that the clinic's director, a Muslim Brother, asked him to go to
Afghanistan to help in a relief effort. Al-Zawahiri says that he was one of three doctors who
arrived in the border city of Peshawar in the summer of 1980, to participate in relief work
among the Afghan refugees.
He devotes one whole chapter of his book to comment on the bombing of the Egyptian Embassy
in Islamabad after the campaign to expel the Afghans from Pakistan began.
Al-Zawahiri says: "The basic objective was to attack the US Embassy in Islamabad, but if that
proved difficult to do, then to strike at any other US target in Pakistan. However, following
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intensive and detailed surveillance, we discovered that bombing the US Embassy was beyond
our capability."
The Egyptian Al-Jihad Organization leader maintains that the opportunity to go to Afghanistan
came to him as a gift on a gold platter because he was always searching for a secure base for
jihadist activity in Egypt because the members of the fundamentalist movement were the target
of repeated security crackdowns. He quotes a saying by his old friend Abu-Ubaydah al-Banshiri,
former military commander of al-Qa'ida forces, who drowned in Lake Victoria in 1996: "It is as if
100 years were added to my life when I came to Afghanistan."
Al-Zawahiri devotes a large part of one chapter to talk about Kamal al-Sananiri, the official in
charge of the Muslim Brotherhood's "Special Order Group." The story of Al-Sananiri's death in
jail occupies a significant part of Al-Zawahiri's memory of all these events. Al-Zawahiri claims
that Al-Sananiri died under the torture of Hasan Abu-Basha, director of the State Security
Investigation Department at that time, who went on to become interior minister.
Al-Zawahiri remarks: "Although I never knew Al-Sananiri personally, the evidence of his
presence in Peshawar and Afghanistan used to precede us wherever we went." Al-Zawahiri cites
a story by Abu-Talal al-Qasimi Tal'at Fu'ad Qasim, spokesman for the Islamic Group, who says
that the United States abducted Al-Sananiri in Croatia and handed him over to Egypt in the
mid-1980s. Abu-Talal used to occupy a jail cell next to Al-Sananiri's cell.
Al-Zawahiri stayed in Peshawar for four months and says that he realized during that time how
rich that region was in jihad potential for the "jihadist movement". He then returned to Egypt
and was imprisoned in jail in connection with the Al-Sadat assassination case. He left jail
towards the end of 1984 and returned to Afghanistan again in 1986.
Al-Zawahiri says: "My connection with Afghanistan began in the summer of 1980 by a twist of
fate, when I was temporarily filling in for one of my colleagues at Al-Sayyidah Zaynab Clinic,
which was administered by the Muslim Brotherhood's Islamic Medical Society. One night the
clinic director, a Muslim Brother, asked me if I would like to travel to Pakistan to contribute,
through my work as a surgeon, to the medical relief effort among the Afghan refugees. I
immediately agreed because I saw this as an opportunity to get to know one of the arenas of
jihad that might be a tributary and a base for jihad in Egypt and the Arab region, the heart of the
Islamic world, where the basic battle of Islam was being fought.
He adds: "The problem of finding a secure base for jihad activity in Egypt used to occupy me a
lot, in view of the pursuits to which we were subjected by the security forces and because of
Egypt's flat terrain which made government control easy, for the River Nile runs in its narrow
valley between two deserts that have no vegetation or water. Such a terrain made guerrilla
warfare in Egypt impossible and, as a result, forced the inhabitants of this valley to submit to the
central government and be exploited as workers and compelled them to be recruited in its
army."
He claims that "the outlet for pent-up resentment was the explosions that occurred at infrequent
intervals just like an extinct volcano that no one knows when it will erupt, or like an earthquake
that no one knows when it will shake the ground with all that lies on it. It was not strange,
therefore, that the history of the contemporary Islamist movement since the 1940s has been one
of repeated crackdowns by the authorities."
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Al-Zawahiri adds: "For this reason this invitation (to participate in medical assistance to the
Afghan refugees) came as a predestined event. I accepted the invitation out of an earnest wish to
get to know the suitable arenas where I could establish a secure base for jihadist action in Egypt,
particularly during the term of Anwar al-Sadat when the signs of a new crusade became
apparent to everyone who had perspicacity and was obvious to everyone concerned about his
nation's affairs."
"And so I actually left for Peshawar in Pakistan in the company of a colleague who was an
anesthetist. We were soon followed by another colleague who specialized in plastic surgery. We
were the first three Arabs to arrive there to participate in relief work among the Afghan
refugees."
"We were preceded to Peshawar by Kamal al-Sananiri, may he rest in peace. We could see that
he had left his mark wherever we went. He had played a pioneer role in establishing the hospital
where we worked and whenever we met with mujahidin leaders, they would speak of his
assistance to them and his efforts to unite them. Although I never met him, his actions and
contributions demonstrated his generosity and beneficial services in the cause of God."
Al-Zawahiri recounts a story about Al-Sananiri in which he says: "It was not strange that Al-
Sananiri should be killed in the campaign of arrests that began with (Al-Sadat's) decision to take
certain persons into custody in September 1981."
Al-Zawahiri alleges that (Kamal al-Sananiri was killed by acts of torture personally carried out
by Hasan Abu-Basha, director of the State Security Investigation Department and later interior
minister). He maintains that one must pause and ponder the story of the killing of Kamal al-
Sananiri (may he rest in peace).
According to Al-Zawahiri's tale in his book "Kamal al-Sananiri was arrested in September 1981
and after Anwar al-Sadat was assassinated in October of the same year, the regime realized that
the State Security Investigation Department, military intelligence, and general intelligence were
completely unaware of the pent-up resentment that seethed inside Egypt, as Al-Zawahiri puts it.
"Indeed the State Security Investigation Department's ignorance about what was happening in
Egypt made it reassure Al-Sadat that its campaign of arrests against opposition figures in
September 1981 had secured the country in his favor and protected him from political
opposition in general, and Islamist opposition in particular."
Al-Zawahiri says in his book: "For this reason the investigation department hastened to begin a
new investigation of the Muslim Brotherhood despite its earlier conviction that the Muslim
Brothers were peaceable. The investigation focused on persons in the second and third ranks of
leadership. Prominent among these persons was Kamal al-Sananiri.
Several considerations were taken into account in making this choice including the fact that the
Muslim Brotherhood's General Guide Umar al-Talmasani was an old man who could not
tolerate torture, and his moral status as general guide would cause problems for the regime. The
regime also knew that actual power and the details of the Muslim Brotherhood's activities were
not in Umar al-Talmasani's hands, including the extensive activity carried out by Al-Sananiri in
maintaining communication between the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and its international
branch abroad.
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Al-Sananiri used to travel a lot abroad for this purpose. He also sponsored the Afghan cause and
was a pioneer in backing the Afghan jihad and maintaining contacts with its leaders. He also had
a prominent status inside the Muslim Brotherhood."
Al-Zawahiri says: "The Muslim Brotherhood had a peculiar organizational structure. The overt
leadership was represented by General Guide Umar al-Talmasani, who was the leader in the
eyes of the population and the regime. Actually the real leadership was in the hands of the
Special Order Group that included Mustafa Mashhur, Dr. Ahmad al-Malat, may he rest in peace,
and Kamal al-Sananiri, may he rest in peace. This made the State Security Investigation
Department believe that if the Muslim Brotherhood had another secret organization, its secrets
would be known by Kamal al-Sananiri."
Al-Zawahiri adds: "The interrogation of Kamal al-Sananiri began in a brutal manner. Dr. Abd-
al-Mun'im Abu-al-Futuh, my colleague in my medical school days, once told me this story while
we were talking across the windows of our cells in Al-Qal'ah jail. He said that Kamal al-Sananiri
was taken in front of his brothers, including Abu-al-Futuh, from his cell in the Turrah prison,
which was used as a way station before prisoners were moved to other jails. He was dressed in a
gellaba and a cloak.
Abd-al-Mun'im Abu-al-Futuh did not see him after that except at the headquarters of the
Socialist Public Prosecutor. His body was swollen and the signs of severe torture were apparent
on him. He told his colleagues that he was being subjected to a level of torture to which he had
not been subjected during the era of (former President) Jamal Abd-al-Nasir.
Al-Sananiri informed the interrogator who questioned him at the office of the Socialist Public
Prosecutor that he had been tortured."
"Sometime later one of the prison guards, a sergeant, told Abd-al-Mun'im Abu-al-Futuh, that
one of their brothers had been killed under torture. Abu-al-Futuh later found out that it was Al-
Sananiri."
The Interior Ministry announced that he had committed suicide by hanging himself from a
water pipe in his solitary cell with the belt of theAl-Zawahiri says: "The strange thing after all
these well-known facts, of which the Muslim Brothers were well aware, is that they did not act to
avenge his blood, although they knew all the details about the way he was killed. They did not
even bring a lawsuit against those responsible for his death, whose identities were known, and it
would have been easy to prove their responsibility in court. Kamal al-Sananiri entered jail on his
feet and left it as a lifeless corpse. The prison warden, the prisons department, and the Interior
Ministry were responsible for what happened and an autopsy would have refuted any story
fabricated by the Interior Ministry to explain his death."
Speaking about his sojourn in Peshawar, Al-Zawahiri says: "When I came into contact with the
arena of Afghan jihad in 1980, I became aware of its rich potential and realized how much
benefit it would bring to the Muslim nation in general, and the jihadist movement in particular.
I understood the importance of benefiting from this arena. Hence, after I stayed for four months
there on my first visit, I returned in March 1981 and spent another two months there. I was then
forced to return to Egypt because of pressing circumstances back home."
"It was then God's will, may He be praised and Whom we thank for the good and the bad that
befalls us, that I should spend three years in an Egyptian jail that ended in late 1984 but,
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